Citizen Action Weekend 2025 Newsletter, Friday, August 8th
Friday, August 8th
Join Citizen Action Today!
To get involved in Citizen Action of Wisconsin:
- healthcare organizing, contact: Kristie.Tweed@citizenactionwi.org
- organizing fighting climate change, contact: Kat.Klawes@citizenactionwi.org
Apply to Citizen Action’s Movement Politics Academy 2025 Fall Class.
The Citizen Action Movement Politics Academy is a training space dedicated to giving every day folks the opportunity to learn how to run for office and campaign manage through values-based campaigns, and achieve bold reforms needed to make Wisconsin a more just and equitable place for all.
It’s a place that will cover a wide range of both campaign and movement topics, including messaging, volunteer and time management, as well as political education around values like healthcare and climate justice.
The academy is for EVERYONE – women, trans and nonbinary folks, folks of color, youth, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, the working class, Veterans regardless of discharge status, and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.
The fall academy will start Wednesday, October 1st, going every Wednesday from 6-7pm until November 19th. Applications are open NOW until Thursday, August 28th.
So what are you waiting for – apply today!
Citizen Action Celebrates One Year of the Inflation Reduction Act in Wisconsin
This week, Citizen Action Climate Action Policy Coordinator, Kat Klawes, joined organizations from across the state to celebrate the 1-year anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The IRA is the largest federal investment in clean energy and climate action in U.S. history. It can provide grants of up to $10,000 to homeowners and renters to weatherize homes, lower energy bills, and reduce carbon emissions. The event featured remarks from Governor Tony Evers, Congresswoman Gwen Moore, and other leaders working to bring these benefits home to Wisconsin.
To make sure these resources reach our communities, we are launching a Housing Resources Team in Milwaukee to help connect residents with IRA programs and other supports for home upgrades and energy savings. To learn more or get involved, email Kat at kat.klawes@citizenactionwi.org.
Interested in learning more abou the Inflation Reduction Act grants for homeowners?
Visit the IRA Calculator.
Citizen Action Northeast Organizing Co-op Update!
Citizen Action members and local elected officials gathered at the Go Organize Hands off Medicaid media conference at Tank Park in Green Bay last week.
“Many of you already know the economic impact of this bill, but I’m not sure everyone knows this about me: I’m one of those kids that was able to get benefits on SNAP and I am one of those families that was able to cover those expenses. We don’t know where the next business owner, community leader, elected leader, or the next state representative who is currently hungry and who maybe has an ailment who needs these much needed services, but we can not close the door once people like me have made it through. We need to make sure that we create opportunities.” Said State Representative Amaad Rivera-Wagner, North East Co-op member.
“I myself did not have access to paid maternity leave after the birth of either of my kids and food assistance was key early on for me and my family…As an elected official in the city of Green Bay, my goal is 100% of our residents thriving, not just surviving. I hope everyone can agree that we want to be a community that builds each other up and not that cuts each other off at the knees.” Said Alder Alyssa Profit.
“When I think about government–when I ask ‘what is government for?’ I think government is to help people, I think that government is to give them the opportunity that I had as a child” Said Alder Joey Prestly.
When asked what he would say to Rep Tony Wied who voted to cut Medicaid and SNAP, Jon Shelton, Citizen Action Member and AFT Wisconsin President said “Do your job as representative for all of us. Represent the teachers, and the working families, and the kids in your community–not the billionaires. That’s what you were elected to do. Do you job, and if you don’t do your job, we are going to hold you accountable, we are going to hold you accountable in the appropriate ways by voting you out of office because that’s what we do with elected office.”
Also pictured: Alder Ben Delie, Representative Ryan Spaude, and Mayor Eric Genrich.
Northeast co-op will be holding its first Health Care Action Team Meeting on Wednesday, August 13th, 5:30pm since Garnet (Gloria) has joined the staff here at Citizen Action! RSVP
Please contact Garnet at g.degrave@citizenactionwi.org for more information about meeting or how you can get involved in our organizing.
Attend Air Permitting in Wisconsin: How the WI Department of Natural Resources’ Decision-Making Process Affects the Health of Your Community, Monday, August 20th, 4:30-5:00pm via Zoom
Wisconsin’s utility regulatory system is failing the public with permitting processes that support industry, not the people. The agencies responsible for making these decisions cannot deny a permit based on health or environmental impact if technical requirements are met, regardless of real-world harm.
Join us on Wednesday, August 20th at 4:30pm to learn more about the WI Department of Natural Resources’ role in the utility regulatory system, potential flaws in their air permitting process and how it affects the health and well being of Wisconsinites, and what steps can be taken to advocate for ourselves and our communities.
Speakers include: Dr. Brittany Keyes, Healthy Climate Wisconsin; Jayne Black, Moms Clean Air Force, and Kat Klawes, Citizen Action of Wisconsin. There will be time allotted for Q&A at the end of the presentation.
This informational session is hosted by 350 Wisconsin, Moms Clean Air Force, Citizen Action of Wisconsin, and Healthy Climate Wisconsin, and is an educational opportunity open to the general public, as well as state and local representatives.
Attend virtual The ‘Fundamentals of Organizing’ training, August 25th & 26th, 4:30pm – 8:00pm
People’s Action Institute and Citizen Action of Wisconsin want to engage hundreds of thousands of people in our movement. We are making a deep investment training our leaders in the fundamentals of organizing.
The ‘Fundamentals of Organizing’ training is a two-part training that is held quarterly and has an emphasis on building relationships grounded in mutual self-interest that balances an expansive sense of how a multiracial democracy should operate and a long-term vision for the world with the realities of building power in the world as it is today.
FOCUS: Fundamentals of Organizing with a focus on power, self-interest, one-to-one relational meetings; and the foundation of power organizations.
Introduction to Deep Canvassing: The Proven Method to Change Hearts and Minds, Tuesday, August 26th, 5 – 6pm
This is an information session, not a training. This session will help you understand if you want to attend our three-session 101: Foundational Skills of Deep Canvassing training.
Are you an organizer, community leader, or activist looking to engage with your community around deeply polarizing issues? Are you an individual hoping to understand how to have compassionate, non-judgmental conversations across lines of difference? Or, are you someone who’s heard about this thing called “deep canvassing” and you’re curious to learn more?
This is an info session, not a training.
This information session will be followed by a full Deep Canvass Institute: Foundational Skills of Deep Canvassing, Tuesday, September 9 – Wednesday, September 10
5 – 8pm CDT.
Join Citizen Action Healthcare State Action Team
If you want to join with fellow Citizen Action leaders from around the state who volunteer to help lead Citizen Action’s healthcare organizing, contact: Kristie.Tweed@citizenactionwi.org
Join Citizen Action Climate Equity State Action Team
If you want to join with fellow Citizen Action leaders from around the state who volunteer to help lead Citizen Action’s climate and equity organizing, contact: Kat.Klawes@citizenactionwi.org
Listen to “Why Wisconsin needs the Hospital Accountability Act” Battleground Wisconsin Podcast
Following Tony Evers photo op at a besieged free clinic in Eau Claire, we discuss the serious structural problems with our current healthcare delivery system. While hospital monopolies siphon off billions in profits, we pay some of the highest costs in the nation, and yet hospitals across the state are either closing or cutting vital services such as emergency care and birthing units, especially in rural areas and urban neighborhoods. The hospital monopolies are non profits in name only and are acting like highly regulated for-profit industries like Wall Street banks and fossil fuel utilities. It is long overdue for the hospital industry to lose its special protections and be regulated in the public interest
A new report finds Wisconsin is struggling to keep teachers who are leaving the state or profession. We make the direct connection to lack of state funding for more than a generation. It’s why we need candidates in 2026 who will fight for this funding and raise the revenue needed to meet our most pressing priorities.
We discuss contrasting town halls last week by Republican Congress members Brian Stiel and Tom Tiffany. While Stiel had the guts to stand in front of his constituents, unlike Tiffany and the infamous Derrick Van Ordin, the reaction of his constituents shows the growing public anger over Trump’s massive cuts to Medicaid and Food Shares. Meanwhile, Wisconsin legislators express phony outrage over Canadian forest fires and file faux complaints with an international body that requires cooperation not dictates from one country. If they really gave a darn about wild fires they would help address the cause of worsening global warming, the massive over burning of fossil fuels that could be replaced by clean renewable energy and energy efficiency measures.
We close with a briefing on some state labor movement news, including the ongoing strike by healthcare workers at Janesville’s MercyHealth East, workers at Pathfinders in Milwaukee announce organizing drive seeking employer recognition, and Wisconsin video game workers who were first to unionize at a major U.S. studio, now have their first contract.
Listen to the show.
Sign letter in support of Pathfinders workers union.
Social media post of the week
